Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s oodles of experience in pressure situations came in handy as he successfully anchored a tricky chase, guiding India to a three-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the second ODI, here today.

The former skipper scored a patient unbeaten 45 off 68 balls but more importantly mentored Bhuvneshwar Kumar (53 not out) as they added 100 runs for the eighth wicket to reach the revised victory target of 231 in 44.2 overs under Duckworth- Lewis method.

India now take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

This was after unheralded mystery spinner Akila Dananjaya (6/48 in 9 overs) infused life into a series, which has been panned by all and sundry for the lopsided contests starting with the Test matches.

India were reduced to 131 for 7 when Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar joined forces. Tbe pitch which looked easy for batting 15 minutes prior to their union, was looking venomous after the Indian batting line-up for the first time in the past one month were asked a few testing questions.